What is your secret in being creative?
August 18, 2009
Scott created a LinkedIn discussion a few weeks ago and posed this question to a group of top tier people of forward thinking companies: “What is your secret in being creative?” (Click here to read the initial list of ideas from the article “How to be Creative” from the VisualAmbassador.com blog.)
The responses were both enlightening and interesting. See for yourself….
That’s an easy question to answer…create something in a different format than what is expected. For example, I created a three-dimensional wall graphic which resembled a poster, when the client requested a framed poster. It was so well received, they asked me to design other similar artwork for their company in the same manner.
Just try to create something different than what is expected, and most of the time you’ll succeed.
-Anonymous
It’s not a secret. It doesn’t have to be a secret. And if it was a secret…do you think I would tell you?
-Thomas
Design is a discipline, not an artistic indulgence. The secret is resourcefulness. Here are a few things that work for me:
Create solutions that solve the business problem at hand
Utilize the principles of rhetoric
Design the content not the page.
–Jim
My best designs come from my subconscious. Submerging into a subject area and mixing several forms of art like drawing and photography and scans. This adds texture, and tactile qualities make people want to touch things therefore having a personal response to it. Happy accidents are what I call things created by play and not serious planning.
–Tracy
The word react is a good description of the initial stages. But also, allowing things to soak in, really submerge yourself into whatever subject you want to communicate. After letting your brain soak, it starts to react with ways to interpret the subject. Then the brain starts sending messages, and emotions guide a separate response. I believe for myself my secret to being creative is simply allowing myself to be totally submerged, and allowing myself to emotionally react to lead a work through the stages of development to final creation.
-Jamaica
I think the whole creative thing is oversold at times.
I’ve seen many instances where a client’s business objectives would have been better met with a tasteful presentation that conveyed information well than with something that was creative for the sake of being creative.
-Anonymous
